Over three days the week before Thanksgiving, Stewpot Community Services distributed 1,000 food baskets full of essential holiday meals to Jackson families in need.
Thanksgiving baskets are an annual effort by the Stewpot team to ensure that as many people as possible in the Jackson community can enjoy a traditional home-cooked meal.
Those who receive the free baskets are not always unhoused, but the majority are in low-income situations, making purchasing the ingredients for a holiday meal very difficult.
The baskets serve as a way to expand the reach of Stewpot’s annual feast, which is served to Jackson’s unhoused community on Thanksgiving Day. Volunteers fill the baskets with everything needed to serve a Thanksgiving dinner: turkey, stuffing mix, canned vegetables, cake mixes, macaroni and more. The donated food comes from the Jackson community, including some companies like Wayne-Sanderson Farms and Extra Table, which donate hundreds of turkeys and chickens every year.
Every year, Stewpot puts together holiday food baskets, like the one in this Nov. 13, 2023, file photo. In 2024, Stewpot distributed 1,000 baskets to Jackson households.
Jill Buckley, executive director of Stewpot, said the Stewpot team had to cap this year’s baskets at 1,000. Individuals and families could register in advance to receive a basket on one of the three collection days.
“That (number of baskets) really hits the top of our capacity in terms of space, volunteer time and energy, donations and so on,” Buckley said.
The sign-up process allows the Stewpot team to prepare baskets based on the number of people per family. Stewpot spent just over three weeks accepting names for this year’s baskets.
“If we had kept the list open, we probably would have gotten a lot more,” Buckley said. “But we’ve learned that about 1,000 is as many as we can reasonably do and do them well.”
The number of Thanksgiving baskets Stewpot distributes each year has increased significantly since the COVID-19 pandemic. Before 2020, Buckley said the team distributed about 350 baskets each year. In the first two years of the pandemic, this number doubled, and has only grown since then.
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“I think there are two dynamics that have caused these kinds of increases,” Buckley said. “Number 1 is the cost of groceries and generally the cost of everything. This is something that people can take off their list of things to worry about and things to pay for if they can come to us to fetch.”
The second reason stems from the ease of collecting the baskets, a process that has been simplified in recent years.
“We’re now just asking people to drive through to pick up their basket, so it makes things a lot easier logistically for everyone,” Buckley said. “While in the past people had to come sit down and have their number called. That involved many more steps.”
A valid ID is the only requirement to register for a Thanksgiving basket. Many of the residents who sign up for baskets tend to be older women who lead large households, Buckley said. Many people only come to Stewpot once a year for help.
“We have some people (for) this is the only time they seek help from us during the year,” Buckley said.
Overall, the typical crowd signing up for baskets represents many different types of households, from two parents with children to single parents and adults without children. The average family consists of about four or five members, Buckley said.
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Ultimately, initiatives like Thanksgiving baskets are rooted in strong communities coming together to support each other.
“This is a group effort,” Buckley said. “We’re really here so that neighbors can take care of their neighbors. As long as people have the will to take care of each other, Stewpot will be here as a way to do that.”
Do you have a news tip? Contact Mary Boyte at mboyte@jackson.gannett.com
This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Stewpot Thanksgiving baskets give 1,000 Jackson families a holiday meal
